Corporate palettes; Techno-optimism; Taken too far
💡Think
Happy Sunday / Monday 🙌
Over the past few weeks, I've spoken to more and more people who are feeling burned out.
I think that we're hitting a burnout endemic in the "I work on a laptop" industry based on the past two+ years of people operating at above 100% productivity, taking fewer breaks, and generally sacrificing life for work.
It's something I've spoke about a lot before, as it's basically describing me as well, and trust me it's hard to pull yourself back to whatever normality should be.
I went for a 2 hour walk today for the first time in a very long time and took in some deeeeeep breaths; I'd encourage you all to do the same (if you can of course!).
Have a positive week!
📷 Look
📖 Read
❶ Can a corporation "own" a colour?
This is for the design nerds out there. It's a piece that looks at colours, and how some businesses patent them for their use only. Did you know that Prince's estate is waiting for a trademark on his famous purple? Or that French overpriced shoe maker Louboutin has their own special red trademarked? Well, this is the world we live in folks 🌈
❷ Techno-optimism
Are you positive or negative about the future of tech and its impact on our lives? Apparently there's a movement for "techno-optimism" where we work on the premise that it will be positive, and work towards that. I'm not so sure to be honest, but maybe that's because I'm a natural pessimist 😉
❸ Everything can be taken too far
This piece is about how every admirable trait or good idea you have can always go "too far" and swing into the negative e.g. "ambition without greed". In style, it's more poem than long form, with short phrases strung out. Hope you'll enjoy this, it's a great opportunity to reflect!
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Bonus round
Today’s design is shaped by likes, and that's a problem
A cute dog-based tweet
I was a guest on a YouTube channel talking about design systems, also available in podcast form
🎧 Listen
Giving myself permission to create
This is from a series called "Meditative Story", and in this episode they speak with a musician who has writer's block for 7 years. Yep, you read that right. It's a refreshing look at how we're basically all the same, and struggling with creativity is kind of the deal. I enjoyed it, hope you will too.
Listen to this podcast (35 minutes)